I agree that I would like to see more exploration. But realistically, I have trouble figuring out how someone could present it so it's fun beyond the first few times.

No matter what they do, eventually, it'll degrade into the same ol' thing, because honestly, there's just not much to meeting new races. It's great in theory, but when you do it for the 20th time, it's just going to be a "skip through the dialogue text from the randomly generated alien, then get your xp."

This isn't a troll post. I want exploration. So let me ask you more creative folks.

How can it be presented in such a way that it will be a substantive gameplay feature that isn't bashed just as much as the exploration missions now?

Are you just talking asthetics? Let the missions be like they are now, but add some local color? If so, I'm good with that.

I think people are underestimating the difficulty of creating this exploration and still making it not just feel like a cheap gimmick. Exploration is something that (I think) is better as a premise than as a story. I mean, really, about 5% of all star trek stories were actually about exploration.